To mark his 70th birthday, genius physicist Professor Stephen Hawking held a Q & A session on Radio 4. He touched briefly on the future of our planet in relation to global warming, suggesting that within the next 1000 years the planet Earth could be no more due to a disaster ‘such as nuclear war or global warming’. From a press perspective, this carbon reduction related news has been counter balanced by a study into when the next ice age will occur. An article from Nature Geoscience stated that due to rising levels of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere, the next ice age will occur within 1500 years if C02 levels don’t increase any more. The likelihood sadly is that they will do.

Chinese steelmakers have made the news for the wrong reasons, reportedly declining participation in the global carbon reduction plan proposed by the World Steel Association. However, within the Chinese steel industry there are reports that steel mills have been actively reducing there carbon dioxide outputs at their own pace. The pressure grows on China to improve their carbon reduction efforts and one of the targeted opportunities is increasing the carbon sink. Forest coverage is the area of growth here for China, forest areas will go up by 12.5 million hectares.

With growing awareness that internationally CO2 emissions increased by 5.9%, the hardest part for domestic governments and the U.N is to create a positive perception of carbon reduction schemes. Without this, the major offenders will have the smoke screen to stay behind that threatens their economies.